Low ridership hurts bus route between south Lake and west Lake
By Chelsea Kirk Schneider cschneider@post-trib.com July 6, 2011 5:30PM
Parent Community Liasons for Hammond High School Rocharda Moore Morris, left, and Linda Randolph look over the bus routes that go near Hammond high School during a public meeting concerning the reduction of services on the EasyGo system at the Hammdon Public Library Wednesday, July 6, 2011, in Hammond, Ind. | Scott M. Bort~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: October 31, 2011 10:47AM
Hammond resident Karen Cook called the potential elimination of the Brown Route to the Lake County Government Center a “shame” on Wednesday.
Cook joined a roomful of concerned Northwest Indiana Regional Bus Authority patrons at the Hammond Public Library for a public hearing on proposed service reductions.
Cook has used the EasyGo Lake Transit Service’s Brown Route and other routes for three weeks and hasn’t run into problems with scheduling. She feels the RBA needs to better communicate to the public how to use the routes launched last August.
“It connects you with Merrillville, the Southlake Mall and the Lake County Government Center,” Cook said. “But you got to tell people how to get there.”
The RBA is exploring eliminating the Brown Route to the Lake County Government Center. The route takes passengers from points in Munster and Highland to the county building in Crown Point but suffers from low ridership. The service saw its highest ridership in May with 242 riders, up from 82 riders when the service first launched last August.
The RBA also is considering reducing rush-hour service in the morning and evening hours on the Red and Green routes moving it from half-hour to hourly service during those times. Any decision on whether to adopt the changes would most likely be made at a RBA board meeting in late August.
Raymond Fletcher, a vocal opponent of the RBA, said if the Brown Route is eliminated then the service is no longer regional.
“Here in Hammond, we gave our system, against my advice to the Hammond City Council and the mayor of Hammond, we gave our system to the RBA,” Fletcher said.
RBA Executive Director Tim Brown fielded questions on long-term funding for regional transportation and whether the routes could be positioned to serve students needing public transit at Hammond High School.
The RBA is speaking with the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, Lake County Council members and RBA board members to look at establishing a tax rate to bring some type of permanent funding, Brown said.
Brown offered ideas of using casino tax revenue or looking at a food and beverage or income tax as possibilities of long-term funding.
Renee Iovino, who sits on the RBA board as a union representative, said public transportation services are getting hit hard everywhere, not just Hammond. Iovino feels if transit dissipates in Northwest Indiana, it would be an uphill climb to get it back.
“We need this in our areas,” Iovino said.
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